Annie Brennan glanced sideways at her older brother as he drove past their usual stop – Mr. Bowman’s burgers, a small diner just outside of the bustling city of Seattle. It was close to a more rural part of the city, with wilderness surrounding the wooden diner, but it was only a mile south of the city Annie didn’t particularly like visiting. She had gone to college in Seattle, and while she had had enough string of ex-boyfriends that could make her resent being there, she just didn’t like the busyness that filled the air whenever she was there.

“Bruce,” she drawled slowly. “Where are we going?”

Bruce glanced at his sister and gave her a crooked smile – his patented Don’t worry about anything; trust me smile that made Annie trust him even less – and turned his attention back to the road.

“I just have to see this guy about something,” he told her, his tone nonchalant as he continued into the city. “No big deal. You can stay in the car.”

A shiver slid down Annie’s back as she leaned back in her chair and rested her forehead against the cool window. Annie preferred to drive her own car – it was a 1986 Dodge Volt that she bought from her grandfather for five hundred dollars and fixed up herself – but during their weekly get-togethers, Bruce liked to drive and she didn’t want to take that away from him. They lived on opposite sides of the city, anyway – he lived in the center of it all, she lived by herself in their parents’ place, surrounded by the woods. It wasn’t the suburbs, exactly, but she did have neighbors and they did know her name.

The problem wasn’t hanging out in the car in Seattle. She could lock the doors and had her own set of keys in her hand to use as a weapon if someone tried to break in – highly unlikely with her being in the car. It was she didn’t particularly care for Bruce’s friends. A lot of them were shady people who had some sort of run-in with the law, whether they were johns, petty thieves, or sexually deviant. She didn’t like being around them or in the slums where they liked to hang out. Also, when they looked at her, their stares lingered a little too long and always in the wrong places – not that she wore clothing that exposed her skin much anyway. Seattle rained a lot, and if it wasn’t raining, it was overcast and cold. The girls who were able to pull off shorts in sixty-degree weather didn’t have her judgment, either, they had her respect.

“I know, I know,” he said quickly. “But it shouldn’t take that long. It’s… it’s important. I’m meeting with Jericho today.”

Annie’s eyebrows pushed up. Jericho? As much as she avoided Bruce’s friends – even going so far as not remembering their names and writing them off as people she would never see again – she couldn’t escape the notoriety held by the nightclub owner. Rumors were rampant that he was head of some mutt mafia gang, where the bond wasn’t in the blood but in the anti-family bond that could be stronger than actual family.

Annie didn’t pay much attention to the news. Every now and then, someone on her Facebook feed would post an article about a gang shooting or a kidnapping that might catch her eye, but for the most part, she tried to avoid that sort of thing. Jericho, however, was impossible to avoid. He was extremely good looking in a pretty boy sort of way but with an underlying darkness that made you feel uneasy, just looking at his picture in the paper. He owned a string of nightclubs throughout Seattle and was one of the wealthiest men in the city. He wasn’t married, and as far as anyone knew, did not have any children. He was dangerous, Annie knew, but that didn’t stop the majority of Seattle’s female population from throwing themselves at him. In fact, one fifteen-year old girl claimed they had sex together – which was great for Seattle PD since they were looking for any reason to take him in – but it was later proven without a doubt that that was a lie.

“I don’t do children,” was his statement, and that was all he said on the matter.

“How do you have a personal meeting with Jericho?” Annie asked suspiciously, picking her head up off the windshield to cut her brother a suspicious look. “You barely bartend.”

“Hey,” Bruce said, shooting his sister a wounded look. “I’m twenty-six and still finding myself, okay?”

“You’re not answering the question,” Annie pointed out.

“What, you don’t think your big brother has it in him to score a meeting with one of the country’s biggest businessmen?” Bruce asked. “I’m offended at how little faith you have in me, dear sister. Extremely offended.”

Annie rolled her eyes.

“You’re a charmer, Bruce,” she told him. “But that charm isn’t going to save your ass if you royally screw up. I just wanted to make sure you don’t want me to have 9-1-1 typed in my iPhone just in case things get… dicey.”

“Did you just say dicey?” Bruce asked, furrowing his brow. “What are we in, a nineties cop drama?”

“Bruce, I’m being serious,” Annie told him. “And you still haven’t answered my question. What are you discussing with someone like Jericho? You have to be careful with people like him, Bruce. The guy’s a criminal.”

Bruce rolled his eyes. “Alleged criminal,” he pointed out. “He hasn’t even been arrested.”

“The guy is richer than God and the Seattle PD isn’t as law-abiding as we believe,” she threw back. “You don’t think he can bribe his way out of handcuffs?”

“He’s actually-“

“If you say nice guy, I’m going to hit you,” Annie threatened. “I know I’m two years younger than you, but we both know I fight better than you.”

Bruce pressed his lips together and Annie grinned triumphantly. She knew she was right and she was glad he had the good sense to know it, too. The scenery turned from green to steel as woods and trees transformed into buildings and businesses. It was a unique setting, Annie had to admit, that a city was surrounded by woods but she still didn’t like the sleek, populated environment. The sky was overcast as usual, the dark grey making the black sky seem more ominous and threatening. She couldn’t even make out the moon or the stars.

“How long is this going to take, Bruce?” she asked. She didn’t like to whine but she couldn’t help the question from coming out of her mouth. Her stomach was rumbling and she wanted food like five minutes ago.

“Why?” he asked, glancing at her sideways. “You hungry?”

At least he knew her well enough to understand.

“Also because I don’t want to hang out in a rusted old Ford F-150 made the same year I was,” she told him. “You say it won’t take long but we both know that that could mean it will take five minutes or it could take thirty. You don’t know how Jericho is in person.” She paused, furrowing her brow. She turned her head to look at him. “Do you?”

Bruce moved his hands around the steering wheel but didn’t respond. He didn’t even look away from the road. That was probably a good thing, considering the streets were starting to get more and more populated with cars and the drivers in Seattle were nearly as bad as the drivers in Los Angeles.

“I might have had some dealings with him in the past,” Bruce said. “Come on, Annie. Don’t judge me. I bartend at one of his bars. It was bound to happen.”

“That’s exactly my point, Bruce,” Annie said. How could her brother not see how ignorant he was being? “You bartend. You are a bartender. Even the bouncers rank higher than you do. No offense but think, for a minute. Why would Jericho want to talk to a bartender? Out of all people?”

“We actually have good ideas, Annie,” he said, somewhat defensively. His brown eyes were hard and narrowed ahead of him.

Annie felt somewhat chastised; she knew he was sensitive about his intelligence. He had the opportunity to go to college just like she did, but he didn’t like sitting in one place and learning things he didn’t care about, so he opted out. Annie, on the other hand, went to school for business and graduated with honors and a guaranteed full-time job starting at sixty grand a year. Bruce always insisted he was happy for his sister but there were moments she expected him to be bitter.

“I’m not saying you don’t,” she told him, softening the edge that had creeped up in her tone. “Look, aren’t you the least bit suspicious? A little bit?”

Bruce shook his head. “You don’t get it, Annie,” he insisted. “Just like you don’t get Jericho. I know the press makes him look out to be this crazy criminal mastermind, but the guy is actually pretty down to earth. He meets with all of his employees personally and asks for ideas and if there’s anything he can do for us. He lent me the money to bury mom and dad last year.”

“What?” Annie shrieked, throwing daggers in her gaze at her brother.

“Jeez, why are you freaking out?” he asked, giving her a look.

Annie scrunched her face up, dropping her mouth in a decidedly unladylike scowl, widened her eyes, and furrowed her brow. It wasn’t the most attractive look but she didn’t care one way or the other. The fact that her brother borrowed money from some criminal billionaire was enough to make her want to throttle him. How could he be so stupid? What had gone through his mind to allow such a thing to happen? While her parents had never been rich, Annie knew there had been enough to take care of two small plots side by side, two caskets, and funeral services. Bruce hadn’t needed to borrow the money.

But he did.

“I’m freaking out because you borrowed money from Jericho, Bruce,” she said, speaking as if she were talking to a simpleton. “Jericho.”

“Jericho isn’t Beetlejuice, Annie,” Bruce said, his tone flat. “You can say his name more than three times and he won’t pop up. But he’s not even a bad guy, anyway. He was the one who actually offered me – us – the money. I didn’t ask for it.”

Annie raised a doubtful brow and waited for him to elaborate.

“Okay,” Bruce said. “So what happened was he brought each employee into his office – he has his own office in every club, Annie. Honestly, the architecture of each place is really cool. Did you know he took buildings that had been around for a hundred years, preserved them, but made upgrades to it? So it’s this blend of modern and old timey, like from back in the Depression Era. How rad is that?”

Annie rolled her eyes. Her brother always went off on tangents, especially when it came to architecture. She had no idea why he didn’t just suck it up and take his general education classes in order to get to architecture and design but the guy was so impatient and also particularly lazy so college was a no-go from the start. Which was disappointing because he would have made one hell of an architect.

“Focus, Bruce,” Annie told him, her voice tight. “How the hell did Jericho offer you money?”

And why the fuck did you take it? she finished silently.

“Oh,” Bruce said. “Right. So I was in his office and he was asking if I had any ideas to make the business better, so I gave him my ideas. Then he said he heard my parents died in some DUI car crash and I said they had and that you and me were stressing out about paying for the funeral expenses.”

“You told him about me?” Annie asked. “Why would you do that? Why would you tell him about me?”

“I talk about you all the time, Annie,” Bruce said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re my favorite little sister.”

“I’m your only sister,” she pointed out under her breath.

“I’m telling you, Annie,” Bruce continued as though he hadn’t heard her. He probably hadn’t, in all honesty, considering he rarely picked up little things she muttered under her breath because he was so focused on whatever point he was trying to make. “He really cares about his employees. He asks about us all the time. He remembers everyone by name, even the janitors. He has like five nightclubs throughout the city and he always makes an appearance at each one throughout the week. Why do you think he was rated as the best boss of Seattle to work for?”

Annie bit the inside of her bottom lip to refrain from saying anything. She wanted to tell Bruce that he was probably collecting intel on his employees as a way to blackmail them or find any weak points he could exploit them with. But Bruce wouldn’t get it. Jericho was someone who walked on water to Bruce. Unless something happened directly to him, there was always an excuse, always a reason why he was the way he was. Bruce was loyal if he was anything, sometimes stupidly so. He was almost like a dog you couldn’t shake if you tried. It was an endearing trait, but also a dangerous one. His ignorance could get him into a lot of trouble, and Annie was worried that that had happened now.

“So you’ll stay in the car-“

“I’m not staying in the car,” she told him curtly, flashing her hazel eyes at him. “I’m going in with you.”

“Annie-“

“Look,” she said as he turned into an adjacent parking structure next to the nightclub they were heading into. “You involved me by bringing me here. You could have rescheduled dinner with me or had the meeting at a different time but you didn’t. I don’t feel comfortable sitting in the car in a city I only went to college in at night as a woman by myself. I don’t care if I need to sit in the lobby or what, but I’m not waiting for you in that car. Especially considering there’s a good chance this meeting is going to take a lot longer than a few minutes.” She pushed her brows up, daring him to argue with her.

For a moment, it appeared as though Bruce was going to say something, but then he stopped, appearing deflated. Annie shot him a smirk. She knew she would win – she always did. He pressed the button to lift the parking lever and the machine spat out a ticket that needed to either get validated or paid for. The Red Door, Bruce’s place of work, validated only after eleven thirty but employees had their own stamp in the break room. He found a parking spot close to the club, considering it was attached to the structure and it was only just after seven. The line would begin in a couple of hours; the club would open at ten thirty exactly.

After he turned off the car, Annie slid out of her seat and shut the door. She shoved her hands deep into her red pea coat and wished she opted to wear her trench coat because at least that had a hood. Bruce, on the other hand, was in a long-sleeved shirt and jeans. No jacket, nothing that appeared to keep him warm. But he didn't seem to have a problem with it. He seemed unperturbed, which amazed Annie to no end because it was fucking freezing.

"You sure you want to come in, Annie?" Bruce asked slowly, giving her a doubtful look.

Annie shot him one back but kept her mouth shut. She wasn't going to argue with Bruce here, now, where anyone could overhear them. She didn't want to air her dirty laundry knowing Jericho could be around and use it against her brother at some point. Although, to be honest, she honestly believed Bruce wasn't a big fish. Why even get involved with some bartender? Sure, Bruce borrowed a lot of money and Jericho had a right to expect it paid back. But why lend some stranger, some lowly employee, that amount of money in the first place? It made no sense.

There was a bouncer at the door, despite the early time, but Bruce flashed him some laminate badge and the bouncer waved him through without question. They didn't seem like they knew each other but maybe that was because their jobs were so different, they didn't socialize all that much. Instead of leading her up the stairs, where Annie knew the break room was, there was already a small group of people at the bar, including Jericho.

Annie's eyes could look nowhere else but at Jericho. He was breath-taking, much more striking than the pictures taken by various media made him out to be, and that was saying something. It was an odd thing, to be in the presence of some sort of celebrity. He didn't look as tall as he was portrayed; he was just a normal person. A normal person surrounded by three incredibly tall, incredibly bulky men - probably his security guards. They made him look even smaller than he really was.

"And who is this?" Jericho asked, placing his eyes - a pale green color, Annie realized - on her.

"This is my sister, Annie," Bruce said, taking a step back.

Annie wanted to yell at her brother. He wasn't supposed to thrust her into the spotlight. Hell, Jericho shouldn't even know about her! She thought she'd hang out in the lobby, let Bruce do whatever he needed to do, and then they'd be done and could go to dinner. She hadn't expected Jericho to be hanging out in the bar with three bodyguards. More than that, she hadn't expected Jericho to notice her or want to meet her personally.

But there he was, staring at her like she was something strange and wonderful, wrapped in the same package.

On her end, Annie was surprised at how beautiful he was. He wasn't as tall as she thought he would be, coming in under six feet - maybe five foot nine, five foot ten if she was being generous - but his body was muscular and lean. He wore a suit, which wasn't unexpected of him. The only pictures she'd seen of him were in suits so it made sense for him to be in one now. It was more how it clung to his body like it was a layer of skin, but not so tight it looked tacky or inappropriate. His golden brown hair was slicked back and his eyes were big and captivating, a pale green color. His cheekbones were ridiculously high and just as sharp, and his mouth was small but his lips looked soft. He had a sharp jawline and a round chin. He wore a white collared shirt tucked into black slacks and a black leather motorcycle jacket over his shirt.

"Annie Brennan," he said, sliding out of his seat to walk toward her. He stretched out his hand, the look in his eyes never wavering. "Bruce's little sister. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Annie stared at his hand. Bruce nudged her hard, grabbing her attention. She didn't want to touch Jericho, didn't want him to touch her. Annie clenched her jaw but placed her hand in his. It was surprisingly soft and warm and when his fingers closed around hers, it covered practically all of her hand.

"Your brother talks about you all the time," he continued. His touch lingered a beat too long before he gently released her hand. His eyes still sparkled as he looked at her and Annie could understand why so many women fell for him regardless of his enormous wealth. "It's nice to finally put a name to a face."

She pressed her lips together and nodded in acknowledgment. There was really nothing else for her to say. In fact, she didn't want to say anything. She didn't want to offer him any sort of information he could use against her at a later time. She took his offered seat even though she wanted to stand, and bent her head forward so her long blonde hair covered her face. She liked the long hair, liked hiding behind it when it was convenient for her. She rarely wore it up, afraid if she did, people would really see her and she didn't like the feeling of such exposure.

“Will she be joining us?"

"I can stay here," Annie said. She didn't particularly want to know what was going on; she didn't want to know what business Bruce had gotten himself wrapped up in. She just wanted to be inside, somewhere dry, until Bruce was finished and they could leave.

"Nonsense," he said. "We'll have our discussions here." He stood behind a bar stool and offered it to her. "Would you like to sit? Let's get this started, shall we?" Jericho said, taking his own seat across from Annie. He did not offer a seat to Bruce and she couldn't figure out if that was on purpose or if he hadn't thought to do such a thing.

Regardless, Bruce grabbed his own seat and placed it next to Annie.

"It's been about a year since I lent you fifty grand," Jericho said.

Annie blinked. Before either could continue, she said, "He lent you how much? We did not spend fifty thousand dollars on our parents' funeral, Bruce." 

"Annie," he hushed out of the side of his mouth, not even looking at his sister. Not because he was ashamed of her behavior, exactly. More because he wanted to keep his eyes on Jericho, which was probably a good idea since Jericho had lent Bruce fifty grand and was expecting him to pay him back.

"Don't Annie me," she snapped. "Why would you borrow that amount of money from Jericho? Not only is he your boss but he..." She cut her eyes over to the man in question, who smirked at her. His eyes somehow remained on her, not bothering to look at Bruce for any reason. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that and didn't bother to think about it all that much. She clenched her jaw to keep the rest of the sentence in: but he's a criminal.

"Sir, I apologize for my sister," Bruce said, staring at Jericho. "We typically go out to dinner and I was already on my way to pick her up when you called."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Jericho told Bruce but he kept his eyes firmly on Annie. "Are you saying that you weren't aware of your brother's debt?" He tilted his head at an awkward angle, almost like some sort of feline. The gesture was graceful and smooth.

"Yeah, she-"

Jericho cut a look to Bruce, one that clearly stared this was a warning and to tread carefully. "I was asking your sister," he said.

Annie swallowed. There was a small, rebellious part of her that felt flattered by his lack of dismissal, that he took her presence here seriously. But the more prevalent part of her was curious as to why he was being so nice, as though he couldn't possibly be being nice just to be nice. There was a reason for it, something he wanted from her. What that was, she didn't know.

"No," she said, shaking her head once. "I didn't know he borrowed that much money from you. I didn't realize I had to worry about that."

"You don't," Bruce said with a hint of exasperation in his tone.

"Hey," Jericho snapped, his voice low and dangerous. "Don't talk to your sister like this. Honesty is a good thing. It helps you learn about people." He turned his attention back to Annie. "So he didn't tell you about the loan? Interesting, because he said as an accountant, you would be the perfect person to assist him on some kind of payment plan in order to ensure I got back my loan in a timely manner."

Annie clenched her jaw. "You told him what I do for a living?" she asked through gritted teeth. "What the hell did you use that money for, Bruce? Because four grand covered the funeral expenses and a year later, you mean to tell me you spent forty-six grand and don't have anything to show for it?"

"That's what the meeting is for," Bruce explained.

"I'm sure Jericho called the meeting because you weren't paying him back," Annie said through gritted teeth. She crossed her arms over her chest, cutting her brother a look she hoped screamed absolute fury with him. "I'm sure this night is your fault because you couldn't, for the life of you, be responsible for anything. What did you spend that money on? Concert tickets? Parties? Going out to eat every damn day?"

"Annie," Bruce said. "I understand your frustration-"

"I'm not frustrated, Bruce," Annie corrected. "I am literally angry with you. Angry. I don't think I've ever been angry with you but I am now."

"Okay," Bruce said defensively. "Okay, I get it, but-"

"No, you do not get it!" Annie exclaimed. "Do not tell me you get it. How could you possibly get it? I never borrowed that amount of money before."

Bruce gave her a sideways look. "Oh, and what about your student loans?" he asked. "Don't you owe like seventy grand back? Not including the interest that's accumulating?"

"That's different," Annie said. She could not believe he would think of comparing borrowing money for further education and borrowing money from a known criminal he happened to work for because he needed the money for God knew what.

"Why?" Bruce asked, a flicker of annoyance in his tone. "Because you say it is? Why do you get to decide that?"

"I don't," Annie said. "But my education is bettering my life."

"Is it?" Bruce asked doubtfully. "You make good money at your firm but you can't afford to live in the city. A good portion of your check goes straight to your loans. Yeah, maybe you're taking a path that will lead to marriage and children and security but that doesn't mean your life is better than mine. You don't get to decide that."

"I borrowed money for an investment in my future," Annie said. "I will continue to promote, I will make better money, and I will pay off my loan."

"Same here," Bruce said, his gaze unflinching. 

"Then why are we here?" Annie asked. "And, by the way, you never told me one way or the other what you spent that money on. Oh, I'm sorry, invested." She did air quotes around the word invested, clearly not believing he did such a thing.

"Don't get nasty," Bruce said. "I invested it. Not that it's any of your business but I invested in property. There a cabin in the middle of nowhere that I'm working on to fix up and rent out by next winter. There is nobody around for miles. Just think about it. What a perfect romantic getaway, right?

"That's what the meeting is for," Bruce continued. “I'm hoping to have it fixed up, completely furnished. I'm nearly finished with it. I have a huge tub in the restroom and just installed a water heater. I'm working on doing central air and central heat soon, too. Maybe in the next week or two. I've been putting a lot of time into this place, starting to get a real estate license to look into doing a couple of open houses in the next few months. I really thought about it. I put a lot of time and research in this. Yeah, maybe I never went to school like you or graduated with honors but I still read a lot and I still network and make friends with those people who have that experience." His tone sounded defensive and as Annie listened, she couldn't help but feel a tad bit guilty for completely writing him off. "I haven't spent one cent of that fifty grand on myself."

"Fine," Annie said with a curt acknowledging nod. "How are you going to pay Jericho back?"

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Jericho push up his brow and turn his attention to Bruce. He seemed to be interested in Bruce's response, which would make sense, since he had given away fifty grand to a guy who wasn't the most responsible person on the planet. Perhaps fifty grand was nothing compared to what Jericho's wealth actually was but it was still a decent amount of money and if the agreement was that that was a loan, Jericho had a right to want it back. The fact that this was the first time Jericho asked for a meeting a year after he first lent it was mind-boggling to her.

"I was thinking he could get a stipend of the profit I make from the cabin," Bruce said, shifting his eyes over to his boss. "Once I get tenants in there, you and I can split the bills and any fees we require them to pay. The best part is, it's practically passive income once I finish up the cabin. We won't have to do much of anything once everything's finished except repairs."

Annie didn't know much about business but she knew this was a shit offer.

"So," Jericho said, furrowing his brow as he looked at Bruce with a questioning look on his face. "You want me to wait even longer for you to pay me back - not the full amount that I loaned you, but to take my money in payments on the off-chance that you get people to rent the cabin. Am I understanding correctly?" 

Bruce nodded slowly, not recognizing that he was prey being led to his death by a predator.

"Okay, you're meeting with a realtor," Jericho continued, using his hands to gesture. "That's great. But as of right now, the cabin isn't finished and nothing is set in stone. So what you're asking me is if I'll continue to trust that your business plan will work out exactly the way you want it. On top of that, you will not be paying me back in full, you'll be paying me back in installments which are all contingent upon you having tenants who pay their rent. Does that sound about right?"

"Uh, yeah?" Bruce said, taking a moment to let Jericho's words sink in.

“If you were a businessman and you loaned your employee fifty thousand dollars, an employee who assured you he would pay you back in full within a year, would you accept being paid this way?” Jericho asked, quirking a brow. He didn’t sound angry, just conversational. Annie was surprised at how much patience he had, to be honest. She felt a twinge of respect for the man who was making her heart flutter.

“I would hear him out, at least,” Bruce replied.

“Fair enough,” Jericho said. “However, I’m afraid to tell you that I will not be accepting your offer to go in with you on renting a cabin out in the woods. I require monetary payment and I require it in the next five minutes.”

“I don’t have that kind of money,” Bruce told him. “I thought once you heard my idea, you’d be all in to help me rent out the place and earn income that way.”

“Why would you assume that?” Annie asked through gritted teeth, leaning forward so her hair blocked her face from Jericho. “Why the hell would you think that? Jericho, fucking Jericho, calls a meeting with you. Shouldn’t that send alarm bells, like, I don’t know, maybe he fucking wants his money back? Maybe? And you show up to this meeting completely un-fucking-prepared, thinking Oh, I’ll offer him a portion of rent if I get tenants. Do you realize how stupid you sound?”

“No need to be a bitch about it, Annie,” Bruce said.

She sat back in her chair, flinching at his words. Bruce had never called her names, even when they were younger and fighting. He wasn’t that sort of guy.

“Hey,” Jericho snapped in a low, dangerous voice. His eyes were a piercing grass-green color, and embedded in the irises, they held a warning to Bruce never to say that word in his presence again. And if Bruce decided not to heed the warning, he would suffer consequences. “Do not call your sister – or anyone, for that matter – that word again. I don’t care if I’m around or not. Have some respect.”

Bruce didn’t say anything. Annie could tell he was biting his lip, chastised.

Jericho turned to look back at Annie. “I don’t appreciate it when women are referred to in any derogatory way,” he explained. “Even if they’re quote-unquote acting like a bitch, it just tells me the individual has little to no vocabulary because he has to resort to something as lowbrow as name-calling.”

Annie felt herself agree with him, surprised.

“Sorry,” Bruce shot out, more defensive than sincere. Annie was certain that if Bruce hadn’t been lectured by Jericho, of all people, he actually would have meant the apology. “What if I gave you something else, instead of money? Clearly, I don’t have fifty grand. I invested it and I have the receipts to prove that to you. Since I don’t want to give you the property I purchased nor do I have fifty grand to give you now, would you be open to receiving something worth more than that?”

Jericho quirked a brow. “I’m listening,” he said.

“My house,” Bruce said.

“What house?” Annie asked, furrowing her brows. “You don’t have a house.”

“Mom and Dad’s house,” Bruce explained quickly. “It’s in Eastvale, just outside the city. Three bedrooms, two and a half baths. Easily worth two-fifty, three if we fixed it up a bit.” His eyes were wide. “What do you say?”